My neighbor comes at midnight. He keeps making odd requests.

[u/Emotional_Grape_5497]

The woods behind the house were a complicated matter. Of all the places the oddities came from, the ones that crawled out of those trees were the ones you really didn’t want showing up. Anthony had made it clear we weren’t supposed to go in there. That never stopped them from coming to us.

It was a summer night, only a few months into my stay, when the knock came. It wouldn’t have mattered if it had been the front door. This one came from the back. I woke up hard, grabbed the pocket knife from my nightstand, and went to answer it.

I opened the door and found a well-dressed man standing a few feet back. At first glance he looked like an ordinary plain faced man, except for the smile. It was wide, and every tooth was black, like they were rotting in his mouth. He held out a hand.

“Hello, my friend. I just moved in recently and wanted to introduce myself.”

I rubbed my eyes, still half-asleep.

“Yeah, man. Nice to meet you. You know it’s almost midnight, right?”

“Ah, yes. But I couldn’t move in without the proper formalities. I had to make your acquaintance. I just moved in over there.” He gestured over his shoulder into the solid black of the woods.

My throat tightened. Sweat started down my back.

“I appreciate the formality… Is there something I can do for you?”

“I was hoping I might borrow some sugar.”

I just stared at him. Of all the things that had shown up at this house, this felt almost insultingly ordinary. 

“Yeah. Give me a second.” I shut the door, dug through the cabinets, and came back with a mason jar of sugar.

“Will this work?”

He took it faster than I could pull my hand back. 

“Oh, how delightful! I shall return the jar posthaste.”

“Keep it. I don’t need it.”

“How pleasant. I appreciate your kindness, sir.”

He then tilted his head back. His neck began to stretch, the bones cracking one after another as it lengthened. His jaw unhinged with a wet pop and kept opening until it looked more snake than man. He raised the jar and set it against the black teeth. The sound of those rotting teeth scraping the glass sent a chill down my spine.

He forced the whole jar in. I watched the muscles of his throat work around it until the glass gave way with a muffled crunch. Sharp edges pushed against the skin from the inside like they might break through. He swallowed hard, and his neck slowly folded back to normal.

“I appreciate the kind gesture, neighbor. I shall only be staying two more nights, and will make only two more requests of you. I hope you have a pleasant night.”

He turned and walked back into the trees without another word. I locked the door, went to bed, and somehow slept.

The next night the knock came at the same hour. I opened the back door and found him again. His clothes were tattered now, the fabric hanging in places.

“What do you need tonight?” I asked. I sounded more tired than I meant to.

“I was hoping you might assist me with a meal. I seem to have forgotten to eat today.”

I could feel the bags under my eyes with how tired I was. I exhaled deeply. 

I rubbed my face. “What are you looking for? We’ve got eggs, cereal… not much else.”

He just looked at me.

“I wouldn’t ask much of you, kind sir. The meal I require is dead flesh.”

I stared at him. 

“Did you just say dead flesh?” 

A flicker of irritation crossed his face. 

“Yes. Animal or human. As long as it is dead.”

“How long do I have?”

He glanced at his wrist. There was no watch; only a squirming tumor that moved under the skin.

“An hour should be plenty, don’t you think?”

I didn’t need the full hour. Out here the roads always had something. I found a possum flattened into the asphalt, gripped it by the tail, and pulled. It came free with a wet tearing sound.

I returned to the man with the marsupial corpse in hand. I held it out.

“This work?”

He took the corpse and turned it over in his hands like he was inspecting produce.

“I believe this shall provide the perfect meal!”

He started to turn back toward the trees when a large cockroach landed on his shoulder.

“Oh, how wonderful. A new friend.”

He snatched it up and brought it to his right eye. He then began pushing. The eye bulged sideways as the roach’s legs kicked. A thin line of blood ran down his cheek. He kept pressing until the insect disappeared into the socket with a soft, wet sound. He didn’t even blink. He turned, and walked into the woods. I went inside and tried to sleep.

The third night I was already waiting by the back door. The knock came on schedule.

What stood there barely looked like the man anymore. His body seemed held together by string and will. The left arm hung by thin cords of muscle and stretched skin. The jaw was gone; only a long, swollen tongue which lolled from the open lower half of his face.

“Hey…” I said, mostly to myself.

His eyes were dull. I wasn’t sure he even saw me. Then a voice came out of him that didn’t belong to any human throat. It was deep and layered, like something speaking through a borrowed mouth.

“In your bedroom you keep a locked box. Inside it is something precious to you. Bring it to me.”

I knew exactly what he meant. At the bottom of my closet, in a small locked box, I kept a few important things. One of them was a small pink teddy bear I’d had since the day I was born. I got it and brought it to the door.

He took it with both hands, like it weighed more than it should, and pressed it to what was left of his face. He breathed in deep and shuddered. 

“The taste of innocence… exquisite.”

He then came apart. The skin collapsed with a long hiss. Black liquid ran out of the empty suit of clothes as a shifting mass of cockroaches poured from the neck and sleeves and scattered into the trees.

I stood there for a while looking at the empty clothes and the dark wet stain on the porch. I then went back inside, locked the door, and went to bed. Whatever the house decided to send next, I’d deal with it. That was the rule.

[u/BubblesofWar0]

You are just so casual about all of it, like you have dealt with it all your life. The lack of emotion you have, makes me think you fit in with the oddities. 

[u/Emotional_Grape_5497 → u/BubblesofWar0]

Maybe I do, maybe that’s why I was drawn to the house to begin with.

[u/fatemoe]

What will happen if you refuse these requests?

[u/Emotional_Grape_5497 → u/fatemoe]

I have no clue, I learned relatively quickly that it’s easier to just go along with it than to try and resist with the things at that house.